Let's talk Ohio HS XC

Honestly, they may not be top 10 in the region this year.

15:55

16:11

16:57

17:08

17:12

(17:29)

(17:32)

After year-in and year-out state level quality teams, what happened for their fall-off this season/

I thought their long time head coach retired, but I also thought that was before this year.

Yeah that was weird to see him drop out like that with so little to go. As an former coach/current parent of another team I encourage him to try to finish especially since he was so close. He could have easily jogged and finished in the top 15. He's teammate that came up behind him was begging him to not do this again. Seems like a reoccurring problem. You hate to see it but not fatigue can make a coward of us all I guess.

I've seen St. Ignatius a few times this year and they just don't have the team I'm accustomed to seeing over the years. They're still solid but don't look like a State team currently. Still time for them to come around though...

No they won't. Not yet. They're the top seeds, so they're in different sections (1, 2, 3).

But we'll be able to time compare, since the districts are all at the same location. They'll go head to head at the Pick N regional in 2.5 weeks.

Yep. You can see who is in which District race below.

Top 2 teams based on 5K times:
1
Mason (OH)
200
1) Isaac Schachleiter
15:11.90
6
2) Jerry Xu
15:35.40
30
3) Max Liao
15:41.00
40
4) James Mroczka
15:47.30
55
5) Braeden Fedders
15:55.10
69
Average Time: 15:38.14 Total Time: 1:18:10.70 1-5 Split: 43.20
6) Brendan Roe
16:11.50
125
7) Will Buckalew
16:15.30
150
2
Lancaster (OH)
262
1) Trevor Lanoy
15:33.54
26
2) Kaiden Lanoy
15:36.18
33
3) Colton Thress
15:38.41
36
4) Isaiah Lanoy
15:46.39
50
5) Zane Schorr
16:09.30
117
Average Time: 15:44.76 Total Time: 1:18:43.82 1-5 Split: 35.76
6) Carter Davis
16:30.97
230
7) Carter Schorr
16:45.38
32
From this, we can see that, to challenge Mason, Lancaster seriously needs a 5th.
Having a low stick (what Lancaster doesn’t seem to have right now) wouldn’t hurt either

It's crazy seeing these times now. How short are some of these courses? The number of boys under 16:00 now around the state is completely crazy. Is it the super spikes? Just plain better athletes and training? It blows my mind that a 16:09 #5 "isn't good enough".

There's some of that, but I think the biggest driver is this has been the best year weather-wise in a long time. Cool temps and no rain for a month is going to lead to fast times.

Those times are from different courses and different races.

While I agree that Mason is more than likely the superior team, you really should not be using times for comparison unless they're from the same course. Better still, is if they're from the same course and the same race. I guess we are lucky that that will happen at Obetz.

When are people going to quit comparing XC times?

"best weather-wise" for racing but not for much of anything else. We are in need of a few all day long soaking rains. My yard and some of the trees I've recently planted would appreciate it. There is some heavy rain, winds, and possible hail forecasted around the state but it probably will not be enough to soften up the ground that much. This upcoming weekend is mostly meets and it will be good to get a few more heavy rains ahead of the district meets to soften up the ground a bit more.

I agree. I always thought the ideal course conditions for fast times were dry, but with a good rain the week before.

Yeah, I'm with you. Some of these guys track PRs just don't indicate the level of fitness required to drop some of these (supposed) 5K times.

For example... Jerry XU (Mason) has PRs of 4:33 and 9:35, which are good but not exceptional. His 5K XC time is 15:35, which is very, very good.

Weston Day (Scioto) has PRs of 4:29 and 9:36... also good. His 5K is 15:17, which is approaching national class if legit.

You could keep going...

Kaiden Lanoy (Lancaster) 4:31/9:30... 15:36

Isaac Schachleiter (Mason) 4:21/9:34.... 15:11

Andrew Bracken (Westerville N) 4:38/9:43... 15:17

Tesfaye Young (Glen Oak) 4:31/9:32... 15:25

Elijah Hadler (Medina H) 4:23/9:39.... 15:31

So yes, some of these 5K times seem out of line with track PRs, which would definitely reveal something fishy with the courses. Of course there are many factors to consider in XC, course conditions, weather, etc, but the track times don't lie. For what it's worth, I ran PRs very similar to these in HS (low 4:20s, mid 9:30s), but only broke 16:00 once.

The great thing about XC is... it all gets sorted out eventually.

I think what helped this Lancaster team do well at Unioto is that Thress was able to jump in front of a Lanoy for the first time (even though he was far behind all the Lanoys earlier in the season) and closed the gap on the other 2 Lanoys.
Next steps for the season
-Find a low stick or maybe two.
-Close the 4-5 gap
This what makes for a “complete” team structure. Without a team without a complete team structure, they cannot beat Mason. Mason has all these components. Low stick and good top 5

As to when people will stop comparing times when they are from different courses….when more speed ratings will be posted I suppose

Don’t forget Mason might have Neuberger back, he was their top returner in XC and ran 9:32 on the track. He missed the beginning of the season and was 9th for Mason at Nike Twilight, they’re still favorites without him but if he’s ready by November they’ll be even tougher to beat.

I agree. Not sure if Neuberger has enough time to catch up to Schachleiter, but there is still a month to go until NXR. If he does catch up to him, they could challenge Noblesville and possibly get an at-large to nxn

Any big conference battles going on this weekend with ranked teams?